Page 117 - Security Today, November/December 2019

Installers can also adjust and maximize the settings for the room’s environment, thus removing false alarms that other sensors might get from body and disinfectant sprays. Integration can also be set up to pinpoint where the infraction occurs, so alerts are sent to a teacher on the 2nd floor if there is an infraction in the 2nd floor bathroom, etc. The device can also be wired into a PoE-enabled network. This is important because it makes it easier to connect to an existing net- work, with less work required.
There is no denying that schools are embracing this technology as the ill effects of vaping become more and more prominent in the news. And that is without factoring in that along with the obvious health risks, vaping has also caused additional problems as e-ciga- rettes are being flushed down toilets, resulting in school having to
dole out thousands of dollars in custodial and plumbing fees. But what price tag do we place on the health and safety of our most pre- cious cargo. Once a student walks through the front door, his well- being is in the hands of a dedicated staff, dedicated to not only educate, but to protect.
More schools are investing heavily in placing vape detectors in their restroom, with reports of one Ohio school district doling out more than $60,000 to put vape detectors in their bathrooms. Plus, there are additional costs for programming, integration, etc. So it makes sense that schools should seek out trained installers to maxi- mize their return with real-time communications.
Tom Reilly is vice president of Security Supply.
Senator Meets with Officials to Discuss Hazards of Vaping
In October, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) met with local officials and health experts during a roundtable discussion at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City to discuss the hazards of vaping and the vaping-related lung disease in Utah.
State health officials have reported 76 cases of vaping-related lung disease, where more than 90 percent were hospitalized, and many were treated in intensive care units. Almost all of the patients involved had inhaled both THC and nicotine. No deaths have been reported but state health care officials are concerned that even in the best of medical care, there could be a death.
“We didn’t even ask about it two years ago, and now we’re asking every teenage patient,” said Dr. Joni Hemond, a University of Utah academic pediatrician.
Outside the Salt Lake City metro area, 14 South Summit High School football players were suspended from the school’s top-ranked football team for vaping on the school bus.
“This is not about winning football games,” said principal Wade Woolstenhulme. “It’s about saving lives. This stuff is killing people now.”
An estimated 25 percent of high school students are vaping regularly, according to healthcare officials. Doctors report young people come in to emergency departments with chills, high fevers and nausea. They say their skin is crawling or that they feel like dying. Forty-five percent of patients land in ICU, 23 percent on a ventilator.
Romney is sponsoring legislation to ban flavored e-cigarettes and tax vaping products to fund a public awareness campaign about the dangers of vaping.
–Ralph C. Jensen
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